Innovation by design

October 10, 2017
- Michael Haederle/UNM HSC Newsbeat

Photo credit: Sara Mota

From the UNM HSC Newsroom:

"People recovering from strokes, trauma and other injuries often require intensive physical therapy and the use of special assistive devices to regain their mobility so that they can live independently.

This fall, University of New Mexico graduate students and faculty members are working with the Lovelace UNM Rehabilitation Hospital to develop new devices that could help meet the unique needs of these patients.

It’s a competitive process involving interdisciplinary teams of faculty members and graduate students from the UNM Health Sciences Center and the UNM School of Engineering. By semester’s end, a panel of judges will select the most promising design and provide $50,000 to develop and test a working prototype.

“The idea is by bringing together this variety of disciplines we can team them up as needed to solve particular problems,” says Christina Salas, PhD, an assistant professor in the Department of Orthopaedics & Rehabilitation with a joint appointment in mechanical engineering."